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Mohamed Salah provided another emphatic reminder of his worth to Liverpool with two world-class goal contributions against Manchester City on Sunday but the Reds remain locked in talks with the player’s representatives over a new contract and are yet to show they will meet his demands.
Salah has firmly established himself as one of the world’s best players while at Anfield and has begun the season in electrifying form with nine goals and three assists in just nine outings.
That takes him to 134 goals and 50 assists in only 212 appearances for the Merseyside club since joining from Roma in 2017 and Salah will go down as a Liverpool legend regardless of what happens with his future.
But the Egyptian is out of contract in 2023 as it stands and an agreement has yet to be brokered even though Liverpool have agreed new contracts with Jordan Henderson, Andy Robertson, Virgil Van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho and Trent Alexander-Arnold all since July.
The Reds must decide whether their two-time Player of the Year is worthy of a new deal having turned 29 in the summer but there is a unanimous agreement outside of the club that he is worthy of a pay packet that reflects his status as a world-class difference-maker.
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The Independent say that Salah is seeking wages of between £300,000 and £380,000 to sign a new deal with Liverpool and commit what are expected to be his final prime years to the club, given he would surely sign until at least June 2025, by which time he would be about to turn 34.
Salah is currently thought to be Liverpool’s joint-second highest-paid player on £200,000 a week alongside Thiago Alcantra and behind Van Dijk, after his new deal in the summer.
But Spotrac suggest there are another 16 players better paid than Salah in the Premier League other than Salah, seven of whom play for Manchester United with Cristiano Ronaldo topping the charts on wages thought to be around half a million a week.
Salah’s lowest wage demand, £300,000 a week, would put him still only joint-seventh with Manchester City duo Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling.
If he agreed a new deal worth that amount, Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku, United quartet Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho, David de Gea, Ronaldo and Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne would all earn more still.
Salah’s people could easily argue he is as important to Liverpool as any of the players below Ronaldo, with De Bruyne said to be paid £400,000 a week at City.
Those wages would be beyond the Reds but with Sancho on £350,000 and having done far less in his career than Salah, though he himself is an elite-level attacker, the Egypt wide-man could fairly claim he deserves level pay.
“He’s been electric, at times last season he was almost let down if you like by the rest of that famous front three but he’s never, ever dropped those standards.
“At this moment in the situation when he’s got less than two years left on his contract it’s just unthinkable he won’t be playing for Liverpool in the next 18 months. I think he wants Kevin De Bruyne money.”
While former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.: “At this moment in time, he’s better than [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo. His numbers have been sensational the last few seasons.
“To do it on that stage, which he has done for so many years, it just sums up how brilliant he is.
“Consistency is what you look for and he is doing it season after season after season where others are falling away and Liverpool still haven’t signed him up.”
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